Tag Archives: Kansas City

Well, it really wasn’t that simple, it involved lots of things which include emails and phone conversations and I’m still figuring out where the puzzle pieces go. But the bottom line is there will be Family Reunion, July 3-5 2014 in Kansas City MO.! *Cue song* Jill Scott, Family Reunion

My mother and I will drive from Chicago to K.C. Missouri to meet cousins who are also descendants of Sam Smith and Sarah Walker.

Sam Smith was born in Feb. about 1856 in Louisiana, Sarah Walker was born in Jan. about 1866 in Arkansas. I have no proof but I believe Sam was born in Shreveport in either Caddo or Bossier Parish, Sarah may have been born in Lafayette, Arkansas. These are guesses and only because these places border each other.

The family line I’ll be visiting with is one born of the marriage of my Great Grand Aunt, Elizabeth C. Smith and John White. Based upon research, they had (9) nine children: John White Jr., Virgina, Tom, Orange, Rosemary, Samuel, Edna May, Elizabeth and Florence.

Social media is a wonderful thing and we have been using Facebook to start the party early! Linda Spence, my 4th cousin, (I think) along with her sisters are responsible for spearheading this event and for that I am incredibly grateful!

As I study the family tree I see the “naming pattern” that somehow I missed, Great Grand Aunt Elizabeth named her girls Virgina, Rosemary, Edna May, Elizabeth and Florence. The 1900 census for Sarah (Walker) Smith states that she had (7) seven children, but only (5) five are listed. I mentioned this in a previous post. Well I still haven’t located the missing children. Is it possible that their names were Edna May and Florence?!

There was always talk in the family that my great grandmother, Julia was one (1) of seven (7) girls and she had two (2) girls and those girls had girls…until I had the first boy in five (5) generations! I was always doing things differently…lol

I’m looking forward to perhaps not only getting some answers to my mysteries but having more questions to ask and puzzles to solve!

My Mom called me yesterday to wish me a Happy New Year, we had already exchanged text messages the night before. I still can’t get over her learning how to send text messages, go head Momma!

She asked me what I was doing and before I could get it out she said, “looking for dead people, I bet.” Of course she was right…Once again I complained how I couldn’t find her mother, Eunice Franklin before 1930 and that I wasn’t sure if the Eunice Franklin in the 1930 census from Kansas City, Jackson, Missouri was even her!

I started reading the names to her of the other household members, John White, Elizabeth White, Virginia White, Orange White, Samuel White, Rosemary White, Ednamay White, Elizabeth White, Florence White, Artelia Jones and Lucy Brown. She said, very calmly I might add, “Oh, those are Mother Dear’s (that’s what her daughters called their mother) cousins, I don’t know who that Jones woman is or Lucy Brown.” I’m like, “WHAT?” “Yeah, I remember Mother Dear talking about Orange, I think I even met him once.” “Maaa..!” “What?” “You never mentioned any of those names!” “You never mentioned them to me either and when you read them I remembered.” “You’re right, I shoulda asked. Thanks Ma, but now I gotta go, I gotta go find me some more dead people! With a name like Orange White I should be able to find a bunch more information! Love you, talk to you later.”

Just for kicks, I searched and found five males with the name of Orange White for 1900, 1920 and 1930! But I put him to the side to investigate later. I wanted to know if Elizabeth White was my great grandmothers sister. Several hours later I had my answer and more questions!

Why did I have to track Elizabeth? I come from a family of women, my great great grandmother had five girls, I’ve only found four, my great grandmother had two girls, my grandmother had three girls, my mother had three girls, her sister had two girls and her younger sister had one girl. That’s a lot of women!

Yes Elizabeth was my great grandmother’s sister and now I have her married name! I have no idea who “Artelia” Jones might be, I suspect the name may be something else but I can’t decipher the handwriting. And I don’t know who Lucy Brown is..but I will find out!

I STILL can’t find Grandma Eunice before 1930 but now I know she went to Kansas City for a visit.